Thanks! Wendy, I'm thinking using the fireplace colors- though probably not going into "full" detail w/ the tilework around the fireplace section- so, a slightly "less detailed" copy of the Kahiki's tiki. I like the idea of using some different glazes, but the first round of these I'll try to pay homage to the original as best I can.

A little more carving to the Art Swap piece (on the "test" mug), should be able to start on the taller, thinner mug late next week.

Trimmed the Kahiki tiles a bit more, including eyes, details where the original tiles were set into the side of the fireplace (won't get into THAT much detail with them, so took a few liberties). The nose will have to dry a bit more before I trim out the nostrils. Drew in a fire in pencil, might do one test one with fire, and one without. The high fire glazes should make this look really great- though completely unreliable.

Work on v.2.0 on the Art Swap mug- forgot to take more photos, here's how I started. A few hours later it looked a lot different:

I also trimmed out the nostrils on the Kahiki tiles, as well as adding texture and roughed out the fireplace flames. I plan on using a variety of "fiery" glazes which should (SHOULD) look cool when high fired.

Thanks, Wendy! I glazed a whole lotta pieces today, hoping we can squeeze in a glaze firing by the end of the week. We'll see. The original Moai coaster tiles, a few smaller pieces, as well as some portholes I made for my home bar:

These were glazed with Palladium, a metallic high gloss silver glaze. I left parts of it unglazed as I plan to use some black and grey acrylic paint to "age" it a little bit. Sure, portholes are usually brass colored but I don't have any glazes like that.

I just posted photos on the Art Swap thread, but I'll repost here. Carved more into the "Exotica" inspired tiki mug:

I also drew in a design on a bisque fired bowl I threw (it ain't the best, I admit). It's a different clay body (speckled buff), thus the different color. I'm going to "color it in" with glaze and tinted wax resist...

This bowl will be good practice for the glazing of the Kahiki Coasters.

Great work David. I hadn't seen the Kahiki tiles and the portholes. I know you usually do high fire but there is a nice low fire that looks like antique brass; Western Aztec Gold, also check out Jon's Bronze glaze on that page.
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Mike, thanks for the link. There is a "Gold Lustre" by Amaco that's similar (a matte gold). I've already used Palladium, a high gloss chrome glaze (high fire)- that I already had I might highlight it with some gold acrylic paint, too.- which I suppose I could've used instead of glaze (it's decorative only). I do like the high shine/ gloss of the Palladium, glaze- though it can wreak havoc with other stuff in the kiln....

Repost of glazed version of Exotica Bowl for the Art Swap. This piece is currently in the kiln, along with V1.0 of the Exotica Mug for the Swap.

While waiting for a test tile of a Grey Shino I plan on using for the Kahiki coaster, started glazing the fireplace. I used a few different glazes that will (hopefully) pop when they're high fired. I'll use either one or two glazes for the stonework around the fireplace. The Shino glaze I'm testing can look different depending on the thickness of the application (lighter or darker), so should know by early next week. Still waiting on the Moai coasters that have yet to be loaded into the kiln.

Unfortunately I missed a piece by another artist come out of the kiln yesterday. It was a bisque load that had the prototype for Ballast Point Brewery's new mug. I missed seeing it- the local artist, Paul Elder, is a painter but also hand carves the mugs for the Brewery/ Distillery. If you haven't had a chance to try their beers, they're awesome- and one of the owners is a big tiki fan (and was at Oasis). All of their labels are nautical themed, pretty fun and cool to check out. (Okay, no more advertising, except for this link: http://www.ballastpoint.com/)

Wendy, thanks. Finished glazing the Kahiki tiles, hope to see these fired (relatively) soon. Here they are pre-firing:

Started working on some coconut mugs. These were going to be coffee mugs for a few of my employees but realized they were a little too big- perfect size for drinking things other than coffee, though . I threw these, then used a chatter tool to add texture to the outside:

(A chatter tool is basically a straight piece of metal w/ a rt angle- you hold the long handle and the opposite edge bounces off the piece as it spins on the wheel, randomly bouncing (chattering) and adding texture. Seemed to be the ideal choice for a coconut's exterior).

This is speckled buff clay, so will reveal black specks when it's high fired. I wanted a solid white interior (w/ no specks), so painted the interior with porcelain slip. This should create a nice base which will get a clear coat later on.

Started carving into another rounded mug for a specific drink mug for my home bar. The drink is "Paco's Pupu Punch," named after my wife's 14 year old chihuahua (named Paco). He is 14, so the drink name alludes to his geriatric tendencies to not make it outside in time. Our other dog bit off part of Paco's ear one day in a struggle for some peanut butter (I got blamed somehow), thus the cut out. This is the initial carve, will get more detail as it dries more:

Out of the kiln:
Portholes: with a 3.5" opening, these were cut out of a tall cylinder shaped around a piece of PVC. I added a base ring, some rivets, then used a high gloss chrome (Palladium) glaze. These will be used at the home bar, too:

Art Swap Bowl, inspired by Martin Denny's "Exotica" album. I used a pretty Moai instead of the pretty model on the LP:

A test version of an "Exotica" inspired tiki mug came out of the kiln, too. The next version will be quite a bit nicer: